Making Peace With Brass Hardware

This week, I’m talking about brass. Yep, I know, it seems random, but brass is a real problem.

You see, when we are constantly updating furniture, brass hardware and handles seem to be on everything. Apparently, it was stylish at one point (prior to my lifetime I’m told).

Now however, nobody really appreciates brass. It looks old, and dated. But I’m here to tell you that brass can be beautiful!

Here at the store we’ve come up with some tricks to deal with brass hardware:

1.) Clean it.

– Brass can actually be really pretty if you simply clean it! Just like silver, brass can become tarnished, but looks lovely when it’s polished. Take a look online and you’ll find there are tons of home recipes to clean brass, that don’t contain any harmful chemicals.

2.) Work with it.

– Usually pieces with brass hardware and handles are some kind of wood, and would suit a log home maybe, but not your home! So they definitely need updating, but that doesn’t mean you need to get rid of the brass altogether. Brass looks great with the right colours. Take a look at a couple of my projects where I embraced the brass hardware:

And here I painted this piece black, and then distressed carefully down to the wood underneath. The maple that shows through really highlights the brass nicely, and the piece looks classy.

3.) When in doubt, paint it out.

– Sometimes, brass just isn’t the right colour. In these cases, you can always try painting the handles and hardware, and then carefully lacquering over top to make sure the paint is extra durable. Any of our paints work on hardware: Country Chic chalk-style, All-in-One, Fusion and the metallic tints. Take a look at these pieces:

Most people don’t even realize that the hardware was painted!

So, there are some options for you! Perhaps it’ll inspire you to incorporate brass in your own masterpiece!